Published: September 2014 (11 years ago) in issue Nº 302
Keywords: Corrections, Promesse community, Bharat Nivas - Pavilion of India, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and Minister of Education
References: Mr N. Bala Baskar, Thiru Bhaktavatsalam, Navajata, Dr Muthuvel Karunanidhi and Dr Nedunchezhian
Visiting of Tamil Nadu Chief Ministers
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Dear Auroville Today Team,
In your interview with Shri N. Bala Baskar published in the August issue of Auroville Today, you wrote: “No Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has ever visited Auroville”. This statement is incorrect.
Mid 1965, Thiru Bhaktavatsalam, the Chief Minister of the then Madras State, visited Auroville. A photo of him with Navajata at the site of Promesse (Bajata is on the left) was published in the August 1965 issue of the Bulletin.
On October 28th, 1973, Dr Karunanidhi, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, laid the foundation stone of the Tamil Nadu State Pavilion in the Bharat Nivas Complex at a function where Dr Nedunchezhian, Education Minister, presided. Earlier they had both gone around Auroville and were very highly impressed. Dr Karunanidhi, in his speech, promised full cooperation and support to Auroville on behalf of the Government of Tamil Nadu and expressed the hope that Auroville would shine in the world as a rising sun. Sadly, the foundation plaque is untraceable. The building is now occupied by the Laboratory of Evolution.
Warmly,
Gilles Guigan
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